Stay on target

If you’re not an iPhone owner but still want to get in on the smartphone action that’s totally okay! There are plenty of great Android phones to look forward to. But Apple’s experience in mobile software still gives them the edge in a number of areas, and video chatting is one of them. FaceTime, iOS’s native video app, is a solid program that has been polished to a shine, and it’s quickly becoming a generic verb like Xerox. You don’t video chat someone, you FaceTime them. With an Android phone, though, you can’t.

That’s what’s great about the open marketplace of ideas that is the Google Play store, though. If you need an Android alternative to FaceTime, you have not one, but several, to choose from. We took the leading candidates for a test drive to compare them with each other, taking into account price, reliability, restrictions, and features. Here’s our list of the five best alternatives to FaceTime for Android.

Google Hangouts

The out-of-the-box alternative to FaceTime isn’t all that bad. Hangouts is Google’s service for both real-time text chat and video. One of the best things about it is that it’s massively cross-platform and linked to your Google ID. Not only does Hangouts work great on every Android phone, you can take it to your desktop — even your Mac desktop. Hangouts replaced Google Talk as the native chat app within Gmail (and Google+, but let’s not talk about that) a few years back, and the team has refined it a lot since then.

One thing that’s cool about Hangouts is that it works beyond simple person-to-person connections. The platform supports multiple-person conversations for up to ten people. Google also offers a mobile version for iOS. One advantage that Hangouts has over FaceTime is its data latency management. While Apple recommends only using FaceTime while connected to a wireless Internet connection, Hangouts deals much better with standard cellular data rates. In addition, voice calls to other Hangouts users are completely free.

If you have an Android phone (five of which you should check out), you should also have a Google account — it’s the key to all of the company’s awesome services, including Hangouts. Keeping your address book in order lets you merge all of your message streams into one easy-to-follow feed. The only complaint that we had is that there are occasionally unexplained glitches and bugs during calls, but they were rare.

Skype

When you think about video chat services, Skype is the gray-haired grandfather that still manages to hang on. First released in 2003, the system shared a back end with music-sharing system Kazaa (remember music-sharing systems?). It grew steadily until 2011, when it was acquired by Microsoft to replace Windows Live Messenger. Obviously, that makes it the default messaging client for Windows phones, but the Android versions are quite solid.

Early versions of Skype for Android weren’t well-integrated with your mobile device’s address book, making adding contacts a chore. In 2014, the 5.0 update finally brought it into harmony with the Android ecosystem, allowing it to access your existing contents. This simple change rocketed Skype into the upper echelon of Android video chat services.

Skype’s video chat services work in a variety of bandwidth situations, and keeps a constant monitor of the quality of the call you are currently on. You are able to score the call afterwards, and depending on what hardware you are using to make the video call, the video can be transmitted in HD.

Basic Skype accounts are free and allow you unlimited one-on-one video chat across any supported platform — mobile and desktop alike. Skype used to charge a subscription fee for multi-user video chats, but now group chats are included in the basic service. They do still charge either by the minute or with a monthly subscription for calls to phone users outside of the Skype service.

Viber

Viber started out as a text and audio messaging app, but quickly realized that they would need to add features to compete in a crowded marketplace. First they worked to replicate audio chat like Skype, and then in 2014 introduced video chat functionality. Although they are relatively new to the marketplace, Viber has build their brand into a strong alternative to existing platforms like FaceTime and Skype.

One of the best aspects of Viber is the app’s clean and intuitive design. Whereas Skype and Hangouts seem like desktop legacy apps that have been awkwardly transitioned to mobile experiences, Viber was built from the ground up with your phone screen in mind. In 2013, they did introduce a desktop app as well, but the clear focus is still on mobile.

The biggest weakness that Viber has in comparison with the other apps on this list is that it has no way of communicating with users outside of its service. Unlike other platforms that utilize SMS protocol, you can’t send messages to contacts who aren’t Viber users from within Viber. And where most people with Android devices have Google accounts by default for Hangouts, it’s not the case here. The service does boast 280 million users around the world, so it’s not just a niche thing.

Tango

If you’re looking for a full service replacement for FaceTime for Android, and you have friends willing to jump ship, Tango (not to be confused with Google’s AR Project Tango) might be just what you’re looking for. The app had its initial release in 2009, and unlike the other offerings on this list, Android is Tango’s primary platform — although there are builds for iOS and Windows phones, Google’s OS is its native element. That means that hardware optimization is at its peak, leading to a smoother user experience and better call quality.

On a WiFi-only device, you can interact with any of Tango’s 200 million users without needing a cellular connection. The service supports voice calls, video calls, text, and image chat. Accounts are free and the signup process is quick and painless. If you want to try and get your friends onboard with you, Tango will actually let you send text messages and emails to your friends to try and get them to sign up for the service. As long as everyone you want to talk to is using Tango, it’s a solid all-purpose communication tool. Note that, unlike other services, Tango’s video chats are one-on-one only.

The makers of Tango are focused on presenting their app as not simply a communication tool, but as a full-fledged social network. That means a public profile and news feed, games, stickers, and other bells and whistles. If you’re looking for something that does video calls like FaceTime but also a whole hell of a lot more, Tango might be your jam.

ooVoo

One of the latest up-and-comers in the video chat space is ooVoo, which has quickly accumulated a significant user base across multiple platforms. The service launched for Windows PCs in 2007 and branched out to mobile in 2011, first for iOS and then for Android. In 2013, the company made their SDK public, allowing developers to add ooVoo-powered video chatting functionality to their own apps. This was a great move, growing their userbase and getting their technology out in front of the public.

OoVoo has one of the most robust group video chat interfaces of any of the apps on this list, effortlessly supporting calls with up to a dozen people. Their audio processing is also excellent, with noise cancellation algorithms working on your signal to prevent too much static from overwhelming voices. Because ooVoo is a fairly light app, its bandwidth requirements are minimal, and it does a good job even with 3G connections, although wireless internet is better.

Like Skype, ooVoo lets you place voice calls to other ooVoo users for free. You can also purchase credits to use the app to place voice calls to phone lines. The service is ad-supported, but a Premium upgrade ($2.99 a month) removes them, as well as increases your storage space on the app’s servers to 1,000 minutes. A Premium Mobile account gives you no ads on your phone for just 99 cents a month as well. In our opinion, the ads aren’t intrusive enough to make payment necessary, but it’s nice to support the service if you like it.

FaceTime alternatives do exist

Who needs Apple, anyways? These FaceTime for Android alternatives do everything their video chat app does and more. Developers are constantly improving the experience as well, so you can expect the apps in this feature to see new services and better stability the longer they’re offered. While it’s easy to just stick with Hangouts, there’s certainly a lot to be gained from experimenting with other Android FaceTime alternatives as well, depending on what friends and co-workers are using. We unreservedly recommend the five apps on this list.